Manufacturing operations have significantly evolved in complexity through the integration of sophisticated automation devices and associated methods. Gains have been realized both in productivity and reliability as past reliance on human judgment and manipulation has been replaced by processor-based systems.
An example of this is manifested in the production equipment used in processing thin disc substrates that are made into storage media for data storage devices like disc drives. During storage and transit these discs are preferably stored for safekeeping in plastic caddies that individually support and spatially separate a plurality of the discs. The caddy also preferably longitudinally aligns the discs along their centroid axes to facilitate the use of automated end effectors to pick and place the discs from and to the caddy during processing steps.
The caddy preferably has a top cover that engages a cassette body to form a sealed enclosure that protects the discs inside from contamination during storage and transit. What is lacking is a top cover that is conceived to be optimal for using automated processing equipment to remove and replace it. It is to that needed improvement in the art that the claimed embodiments are directed.